In today's world, there is a wide variety of services that are available to a consumer where access to the services depends upon the consumer's possession of a card or code. For example, some of the services to which a typical consumer may gain access by possessing a card, include entry to a transportation service (e.g., public transportation), access to a membership club, entry to an access-restricted location, access to credit services, telephone system use, and accrual of loyalty rewards/incentives such as frequent flier miles or grocery store discounts and rebates.
Due to the desirability of such services, consumers in today's world typically carry a wide array of cards in their wallets and purses. The cards consumers now carry include, among others, credit cards, driver's licenses, subway access cards, bus cards, train passes, frequent flier cards, professional registration cards, retailer loyalty cards, and security-related restricted-access cards. Typically, each of these consumer cards contains information about the specific user or consumer, information about the service or benefit provider and information defining the memberships or services to which the consumer is entitled by virtue of his or her possession of the card. The information concerning the consumer may include photographs, signatures, fingerprints, biometrics and other information that identifies or describes the consumer. Information regarding the identity of the service provider, and the associated services to which the consumer is entitled, may be readily ascertained by reading the face of the card, may be encoded or accessed by using the card. Information may be incorporated onto the cards through a variety of means including imprinting, punching, laminating, embossing, bar encoding, magnetic stripe encoding, and even affixation or incorporation of micro-chips.
Unfortunately, due to the proliferation of memberships and services currently available from diverse service providers, the quantity of cards that average consumers carry has become unreasonably and unnecessarily burdensome. For example, on a single shopping trip, a typical consumer may carry a drivers license to drive their motor vehicle to the merchant's location, a transportation card to obtain access to public transportation, a membership card to obtain access to the merchant's exclusive membership shopping club (e.g., Costco), a calling card to make phone calls during the shopping trip, and a credit card to obtain credit services to facilitate the purchase of goods from the merchant. Yet, it can be cumbersome and uncomfortable to carry all these necessary cards in one's wallet, pocket or purse.
Thus, it would be advantageous to decrease the volume of cards that a consumer must carry while retaining the consumer's access to the full array of services provided by the diversity of service providers. Simultaneous with the desire to reduce the volume of cards, there is an evident need to increase the information carrying capacity or information accessibility using such consumer cards. Furthermore, the prior art attempts at reducing the quantity of cards a consumer must carry are typically aimed at modifying the cards, rather than modifying the processes and systems employed by the individual benefit providers, such that the consumer may continue to enjoy benefit from multiple providers. In fact, none of the methods or systems for providing a multiplicity of services through a single card that are known in the art involve substantial administrative cooperation between distinct service providers.
Furthermore, it has become apparent that consumers who seek access to a particular set of services from one service provider are more likely to desire access to a second set of services from a distinct class of service providers. For example, it stands to reason that consumers who access a transportation system are likely to desire credit services during their trip to a merchant. Therefore, it would be advantageous for providers of distinct services such as credit services and transportation services to cooperate to offer a single card that provides consumers with access to the services of the currently separate and distinct cards. By doing so, a primary party provider of credit services and a partnering transportation organization can encourage use of their respective services while providing a synergistic administrative benefit to themselves and their consumers.
Moreover, in addition to credit services and transportation services, the cards may be used for loyalty programs. Because numerous loyalty programs exist, businesses have a difficult time differentiating their loyalty programs from other loyalty programs on the market. Moreover, many consumers often travel for work related reasons, so they may not desire to use their loyalty points to travel to distant cities or distant countries. Rather, many consumers enjoy the services of their “hometown” region, including local restaurants, local theaters, local sporting activities and other events. At the same time, marketers have begun to understand that many consumers develop a strong pride, emotional affinity and loyalty to the geographic region where they live. As such, a long-felt need exists for a multiple service card which includes a loyalty program which rewards consumers for purchases in certain local geographic areas and which enables consumers to utilize their loyalty points in similar local geographic areas.